Lovely Complex
by deina-kun
Summary: [4UP] People call them the Prince and Princess of Odaiba Academy's High School Division. When others look at it, they seem like the perfect couple. At least, that's what everyone says.
1. Step 01

**Lovely Complex**  
by deina-kun 

This is the story of a Prince and Princess with a Lovely Complex.

Disclaimer: Characters are the creation of Akiyoshi Hongo. The fanfiction is an based on Nakahara Aya's _Lovely Complex_.

* * *

** Step 01.**

"With the end of the first term, you are all expected to keep up with your studies and remain studious students in preparation for the second term. Don't get too lazy out in the summer heat or you will have trouble catching up.."

It was the end of the first term of school and the cicadas were chirping brightly outside. Odaiba Academy's High School Division students were lined up into their ranks and files to receive the Principal's "short" speech, but the students were growing restless and impatient after he turned over his first page of notes. The room was also growing uncomfortably warm and order was beginning to lose itself by the minute with thoughts of the beach where volleyball, afternoon walks, fireworks at night, and celebrations were awaiting them.

"Hey. You, in Year 1," the students, drowsy from the summer heat, drew their wandering minds back as the droning speech seemed to come to its end. The man on the podium barked out with a hint of aggravation in his voice. "Tachikawa!"

Some Year 1 students were wide-eyed and began murmuring as a chestnut brown-haired girl became the center of their attention, "Hey, Mimi, he's talking about you."

"Hey! Tachikawa!" the voice boomed with growing frustration.

"Yes?" a soft note sang from a petite girl standing on the edge of First Years. The students around her seemed to hush as they anticipated what her response would be. Many of the male students were drooling over the cute girl, greatly attracted to her looks.

"Would you mind telling me why you're spacing out while I'm giving the speech?" he asked through the microphone.

"Heh," a voice scoffed, breaking the tension-filled silence. A tall and slender blonde-haired boy with striking blue eyes stood a short distance to the girl's right. Students had switched their attention to him with many of the girls swooning at the sound of his soft, low voice. "You can't even keep your attention to the ceremony and have to call attention to yourself instead."

She turned to the voice with anger written all over her face. "What did you say!"

"It's the ADD Princess," he continued with a smirk across his face, "and a Princess with bad manners, too."

"Why you!..." she scowled as she turned to face him. "At least my head's not so high up in the clouds trying to think of ways to pull moves on another girl like the sick pervert that you are, Yamato!"

"Are you saying that I molest girls?"

"I doubt that you'd be able to do anything other than that."

"Or would you like me to show you what you mean about 'molesting'?"

Mimi paused, disgusted at his remark. Students nearby had begun to step back and circle around as the two exceptionally attractive students continued to verbally assault one another. Their classmates began to giggle and chuckle between murmuring at the sight of the debate with remarks of:

"Look, it's the school idols battling it out! How cute!"

"Yamato-kun is so gorgeous and Mimi-chan is beautiful as ever!"

"I hear they're always fighting because they like each other so much."

"They're calling each other by their first names. They must be really close." (**A/N:** In Japan, calling someone by their first names shows familiarity with the person.)

"**ENOUGH**!" the loudspeakers boomed and feedback screeched throughout the whole auditorium. "You two! Meet me in my office **NOW**. Everyone's dismissed."

* * *

"I'm sorry!" the chestnut brown-haired girl apologized with a low bow before the Principal's desk. The air conditioning hummed amid the silence that lingered while a slight ruffle of papers and a pen writing out letters and memos were added to the absence of sounds.

"It's vexing to see a student like you daydreaming during the ceremony, Tachikawa." he let out a sigh and continued to sign forms. Mimi stood up and regained her composure. "I would've expected a better attitude from you, especially since you're only a First Year. You don't want to get on my wrong side."

"I understand, I'm really sorry." she repeated, biting her lip.

"Were you tired or something? Or was I boring you?" his attention never strayed from his work.

"No. It was kind of getting stuffy, though."

"Was the daydreaming so good that you had to daze out there?" the questioned piqued her curiosity and brought her attention back to the diligent working man. He gave a short laugh.

Her face lit up, growing a little red as she put a finger to her chin to think and giggled weakly, "Well, I was thinking about drinking root beer on the beach.."

He gave out a light-hearted laugh. "All right! You will be punished by attending the supplementary classes."

She stared in disbelief. "What! But it's summer break tomorrow! The root beer..!"

"That'll have to wait." he cut her off, "And it's Compulsory Summer Class."

"Ehhh?.." her spirit sank as she tried to accept the loss of two weeks from her summer vacation.

"Go on, meet up with your classmates since they're already gone for the day." the Principal stifled a laugh as he waved her good-bye, "I'll see you tomorrow, Tachikawa-san."

Finding his change in attitude depressing, Mimi turned to leave his office and bumped into someone on the way out. She looked up to see the last face she probably wanted to see standing right before her.

"Are you trying to be cute?" a voice stated coldly.

She paused and looked confused for a second, but broke out in a sweet smile. "Yeah!"

"Move it, First Year! You're in my way!" he pushed his way through and brought a large box to the Principal, placing it on the desk. "Is this it?"

"Put it over there." the Principal pointed where a set of boxes just like the one Yamato held in his arms were.

Mimi frowned and took in a deep breath. "No matter how I treat you, you still treat me like a little kid!"

As he walked by her, he shot her a mischievous glint in his eyes and smirked, "I wouldn't even waste my time treating you like a kid 'cause you're not cute enough."

"Shut up! Who would want to be cute for someone like you!"

"What did you say! Do you really want me to answer that!"

"Yeah, go ahead, I'd like to see how pathetic you really are!"

"Hey! _Kouhai_!" the Principal called out.

"Stop calling me that!" Mimi and Yamato yelled.

(**A/N:** Although _kouhai _is usually referred to as the "junior" to the senpai (senior), _kouhai _also means married couple. In the Principal's term, he's apt in naming the two that because they are his juniors at the school and his work. For future reference, _Kouhai _will be 'married couple' and _kouhai _will be 'underclassmen' to tell them apart easier.)

"Argh, don't say the same thing I'm saying!" Yamato groaned, running his hand through his blonde hair in frustration.

The Principal put down his pen and sighed. "Would you two just stop your love fights already?"

"What love fights!" Mimi shrieked.

The Principal looked blankly at the two. "Aren't the two of you going out?"

"**WE'RE NOT**!"

* * *

_People call them the Prince and Princess of Odaiba Academy's High School Division._

_Two popular and attractive students one year apart, sharing the same admiration from their peers. When other people look at it, they seem like the perfect couple._

_At least, that's what everyone says._

* * *

"We're going back." they left the Principal to humor himself at his creation. He was the one who started it all. Not only did they attract so much attention to themselves, their charisma managed to land themselves the titles of Prince and Princess. The Principal pointed out through all of their arguing that they were the _Kouhai_ couple since they always got aggravated when people mention of the other part in the coupling.

"How is this possible!" Mimi cried as they walked through the hallways. She tugged at the bottom of her skirt in frustration.

"Who would want to befriend a self-centered, conceited girl like you by their own free will, anyways?" Yamato asked.

Mimi's brow furrowed. "That's exactly what I was about to ask you!"

"Back at you."

"Back at you again!"

Yamato stopped and scoffed. "And above all, you were swooning and giggling like an idiot while standing in line. How could I possibly be with a girl like that?"

Mimi paused and turned to face the mischievous glint in his eyes. "You liar! I never do things like that!"

"I could hear you from where I was standing. I wasn't that far away."

Mimi groaned as he walked away laughing at her, "How ungraceful of a Princess!" he turned back for a short moment with a touch of evil lingering in his eyes and smile, "No wonder you don't have a boyfriend."

"**SHUT UP**!"

"The loser is getting angry.." Yamato sang as he left her in the hallway. He left with a quick wave to her before he slid behind a hallway door.

Deciding to brush the Prince's rude remarks away, she filled her mind with thoughts of summer as she went to get her shoes from her locker. She sighed at the depressing thought of having to wait two more weeks to actually get away from school. While she was closing her locker, her voice was called out. She turned to see her friends walking toward her. Miyako, her purple-haired _kouhai _from the junior high division beamed happily, followed by an orange-haired Sora, sporting her tennis gear with her.

"Sorry to make you wait!" Mimi apologized. She waved in between adjusting her shoes.

"No problem! So what happened, what did the Principal say?" Sora asked.

"I have to take Compulsory Summer Class.." Mimi sighed. This punishment was too disgraceful for her kind of character.

"Really? I have to take a math class." Miyako added, a little too enthusiastic. "My grades were too low!"

"I have to even though my grades are fine!" Mimi groaned. Her grades happened to be one of the highest in her own class. "I don't understand why the Principal always has to pick on me.."

Mimi and Miyako turned to Sora, who hadn't said anything in a while. Sora blushed and grew embarrassed under their staring. "Ah! I'm here too.. but for tennis!"

"Hehe, we're just playing with you, Sora. We know!" Mimi giggled and wrapped an arm around both girls and walked between the two of them.

"The teacher got mad at Miyako, from what I heard," Sora said, "He said that she was supposed to wear her school uniform at the closing ceremony."

"But I don't want to! Why do I have to wear the school uniform even during closing ceremony? Geez..."

As they walked off campus, a few students stopped to whisper among their friends, pointing out "Oh! That's the Princess!" while they walked by.

Mimi took a deep breath and let out a sigh. 'Summer classes start tomorrow. It'll be okay as long as I won't have to see that jerk Yamato's face!'

"I heard they'll be combining the classes for summer school." Miyako said happily, "Do you think there'll be any other guys? I might be able to meet some cute high schoolers!"

"Miyako, you already have a boyfriend!" Mimi said with a worried look across her face. She sighed and look up as they walked, "I've never had a boyfriend. I wish I had someone I liked at least."

"What about Yamato?"

"How can you say that, Sora-chan!" Mimi cried, stopping in her tracks. Her hair seemed to stand on end.

"But I think you really suit each other!" Sora replied, giving a weak laugh.

"Impossible!" Mimi exclaimed. 'This can't keep up. I need to find a boyfriend soon. Otherwise, I'll always be compared with that guy!'

'It's decided! This year, I'll definitely find him!'

* * *

** Summer School is Now in Session  
**

Yamato paused and grew wide-eyed as he entered the classroom. A petite chestnut haired girl looked up at him with her large amber brown eyes that grew angry as she stared. She quickly sat up from her chair making a loud noise equalled by her shouting, "What are you doing here!"

"I'd like to ask the same thing!" Yamato shot back.

"Oh, right! I forgot that Yamato is an idiot! How sad!" Mimi's voice sang. She turned around to feign sympathy for him.

Yamato's face darkened. "You idiot! My grades are perfect!"

"I'm only here because the Principal put me here!" her finger shot out and pointed madly at him.

"You're the reason why he made me come here too!" he followed her with pointing a finger at her as well.

"Well, you started it with your rude remarks!"

"Yeah, because you were probably thinking of perverted things giggling like a crazed fangirl over the Principal!"

They paused in mid-arguement, realizing that their classmates were whispering things.

"Could they be?" a girl asked.

"Ah! They're the school's Prince and Princess from the ceremony!"

"How lucky! It's the first time I see them together!"

"Aren't they cute?"

"They seem so perfect together!"

Mimi narrowed her eyes and flashed a dirty look at Yamato as she pointed to a seat near the window. "Would you please pick a seat further away from me?"

"No way! I'm sitting beside my band member!" Yamato refused, standing next to his band members' desk which was one desk over to the one on Mimi's right. Yamato groaned, "You move instead!"

"I sat here first!" she cried.

The classroom door slid open, making the usual 'Click!' sound that cut through all of the noise in the class.

"Hey, _Kouhai_! I can see that you're getting along even better during the summer." the Principal called out giving a light laugh.

"We're not sitting by each other because we wanted it!" Mimi and Yamato groaned as they were stuck sitting right next to each other.

The classroom door clicked open again. A tall, brown-haired guy walked in. He had an athletic build and a wide grin that caught Mimi's attention. "Sorry I'm late."

"Oh, Taichi?" the teacher asked. The boy nodded. "I haven't called up the names yet, so hurry up and take your seat."

"I'll start with the First Years," the Principal began to call out names as the late comer walked to his desk. Clattering could be heard behind Mimi, which caused her to jump in surprise as she had been dazing out while she watched him walked past her.

"Is it okay if I sit behind you?"

She turned slowly to see that the guy who had disappeared was towering behind her, looking deeply into her eyes as he waited for an answer. Mimi blushed, "Ah... Well, no one sits there so..."

"If you sit behind Tachikawa, you won't be able to see the blackboard because of her large hair." Yamato joked as he leaned back from his desk.

Mimi furrowed her brow, "Don't be so noisy, Yamato!"

She turned to face Taichi and giggled weakly as she apologized for her disturbance. Taichi said it was okay, with his silly smile, saying that she wasn't bothering her in any way.

Mimi felt herself being stabbed by an arrow from the response. 'I'll ask Taichi-kun! _Senpai_'s perfect!'

While Mimi was lost in her thoughts, Yamato's eyes creeped toward her direction while he rest his chin on his hand with his arm propped up on the desk. A mischievous smile spread across his face.

* * *

"What's wrong with Mimi?" Miyako asked Sora as they were getting their shoes from their lockers. Mimi hadn't been hanging out with them much that day and seemed to be dazed more than usual. 

"I don't know." they left Mimi at the lockers. She had been watching her senpai through the window as he was out practicing with the soccer team.

"Hey there, _kouhai_," a tall figure blocked Mimi's view from her senpai. Her heart sank as her eyes trailed up to meet the eyes of the person standing before her.

"I have something to talk to you about." her rival said with an odd smile. "Let's walk home together!"

* * *

**A/N:** This is for information on the age differences between all of the characters. **This does not contain spoilers of upcoming characters.**

I was confused with the actual ages of the characters since translating the Japanese school system to the American school system changes things. I got results like the following (ages from Season 01):

(i) **Joe is 12; Taichi, Yamato, Sora are 11; Mimi, Koushirou are 10** (what this fanfiction is following, plus 6 years)  
(ii) Joe is 12; Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Mimi are 11; Koushirou is 10  
(iii) Joe is 12; Taichi, Yamato are 11; Sora, Mimi, Koushirou are 10

In Season 02, their ages are even more mixed up since the Japanese school system (1-6 elementary, 7-9 junior high, 10-12 high school) and American school system (1-6 elementary, 7-8 junior high, 9-12 high school) differ with high school and junior high, so it gets kind of confusing, which is why there's confusion with their ages.

If anyone can clear this up, it would help me greatly and I can apply necessary revision. I might go with scenario (ii) later on if need be to have Mimi in the same grade as Taichi, Yamato, and Sora. We'll see.

* * *

**Odaiba Academy Students**

High School Division  
Yagami Taichi (17) - 2nd Year, Soccer Ace   
Ishida Yamato (17) - 2nd Year, Prince and Male Idol   
Takenouchi Sora (17) - 2nd Year, Tennis Ace   
Tachikawa Mimi (16) - 1st Year, Princess and Female Idol

Junior High School Division  
Inoue Miyako (15) - 3rd Year

**Note:** All characters are 1 year older than the age most people start school (16 years old beginning 11th grade US/2nd year high school JPN) assuming their birthday has already passed.


	2. Step 02

**Lovely Complex**  
by deina-kun

Disclaimer: Characters are the creation of Akiyoshi Hongo. The fanfiction is an based on Nakahara Aya's Lovely Complex.

* * *

_The Prince asked the Princess if he could walk her home..._

* * *

**Step 02.**

"Yes, jerk?" Mimi asked flatly, looking sharply into his blue eyes to find any trace of ulterior motives he might have.

Yamato's grinning face spasmed into a frown and he turned away. "Just shut up and follow me!" He turned and walked at a seemingly fast pace to the location where their apartment was from the Academy.

Mimi glared at him, letting his rude attitude get to her, but as he was rounding the corner, she quickly went after him, not wanting to be left behind. 'This is so unromantic.. but who would be stupid enough to think that while walking home with him. Jerk.'

The two of them found themselves at the nearby McDonalds, sitting away from the crowd in order to avoid any of their classmates seeing them together in public. Mimi groaned as she drank her root beer, asking in between her sips while Yamato scarfed down his burgers and fries. Her eyes narrowed. "Why do I have to be with you even after school anyways? And your table etiquette sucks."

"Because I can't tell you what I'm to say if we're at school." he replied, taking a sip from his soda.

Mimi's brow furrowed. "So what is it?"

"You..." Yamato began as he had a French fry dangling from his mouth like a cigarette. "...like Taichi-kun, don't you?"

Mimi choked on her drink and caused some of her root beer to spill over the table. "How... How did you know!" she glared at him wide-eyed as she frantically wiped the table of the root beer. Her hair stood on end and the pitch of her voice raised in surprise.

Yamato grinned with his victory and leaned back into his seat. "I can tell just by looking at you."

'How did he find out?' Mimi stared at him in anger as her cheeks blushed wildly red. Her lips quivered as she spoke, "Are you going to threaten me for money now?"

"Of course not." Yamato sat up in his seat and took a French fry between his fingers, holding it like a cigarette while a sly look spread across is eyes. "I'm a much better person than that."

"I'm best friends with Taichi. Maybe I can get you two together." Yamato took a sip of his drink.

"Eh? Really!" his proposal caused her to subconsciously stand up in suprise, anticipating his response.

He took another sip. "Yes, I'm serious."

The growing anticipation exploded into a frenzy of overjoyment, and a sparkle in Mimi's eyes could be seen. She ran over to his side and hugged him around the neck, forgetting her hatred of him before that point. "Okay then!" My treat! What do you want? Hamburger? Friend rice? Or Value Meal?"

"Value Meal!" Yamato replied. "And also!"

"And?" Mimi asked him with a sweet smile as she had her arms still wrapped around his neck.

"And," his eyes lost their cheeriness and grew cold. "get off of me."

Mimi's whole body froze when she realized the position that they were in. She quickly removed her hands and stood up to walk back to her seat, but Yamato continued. "I also want Takenouchi-san."

'Huh!'

* * *

"Eh? This Sunday?" Sora blinked at Mimi with curiosity as her hand paused in between her flower arranging. "Yes, I'm free..."

"Really?" Mimi's face brightened up. She clasped her hands together in excitement. "Since it's such a great opportunity, let's go to the pool together!"

A wide grin spread across her face. "Miyako-chan and her boyfriend Ken-kun are going too!"

"Me too!" Miyako squealed in excitement. She was going through her bag trying to decide on which bathing suit to wear at the pool.

"Oh! Sounds like fun!" Sora smiled amid all the cheery faces.

Mimi took Sora's hands in her's and looked pleadingly into her friend's eyes. "Then, it's okay if I bring some other friends of mine, right?"

"Sure, the more the merrier."

* * *

Yamato caught up with Taichi before he ran off to his soccer practice that Friday after school. "Taichi!"

The soccer ace stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned to face his friend. He took off the microphone that was in his ear. "Hey, what's up, Yamato?"

"Wanna go to the pool with me tomorrow?" Yamato asked with a wide grin on his face.

Taichi looked at him, wondering if he meant going on a 'date' with him. "Hm... Sure..."

* * *

"Sorry to make you wait!" Mimi apologized as she lightly jogged over to the group. She kept a bright grin in between slight gasps of air.

Yamato scoffed. "You're late!"

"let's go! Let's go!" Miyako chirped in excitement as she tugged on Ken's arm.

'However...' Mimi cupper her hand to the side of her face to block the other from hearing, "I never would've thought you would like Sora-chan."

Yamato groaned. "Idiot! She's cute! I've been interested in her for a long time."

"Oh---" Mimi detached herself from her bickering with Yamato and glanced over at Sora, 'It's true. Even to a girl like me she does look cute...'

"But there's something that might be an obstacle for you..." Mimi said when she stopped walking. Yamato stopped as well as her response had piqued his curiosity and aggravation.

"Why would that be?"

"Sora-chan doesn't like being around guys." Mimi stood with a straight face recalling the years in junior high.

Yamato raised an eyebrow. "Really now?"

"Look," Mimi turned her head in the direction of the others, "she looks uncomfortable with all of the other guys here."

"If you think about it, it's cute." Yamato replied with a grin on his face. He turned to Mimi with an undeniable determination in his eyes. "So what if she dislikes guys? I'll cure her from it."

"You're not convincing at all..." Mimi watched with a straight face as Yamato coolly walked away.

After a few steps away from Mimi, Yamato turned around to face Mimi again, "Tachikawa, you'd better catch up with Taichi! He has the 'What am I doing here' expression on his face."

"Wah!"

"And he doesn't have a girlfriend, either!" Yamato continued with sly enjoyment ringing in his voice everytime he teased his female rival.

"You sure?" Mimi blinked and furrowed her brow to make her disbelief apparent to Yamato.

Yamato closed the space between them and looked straight into her eyes with this convincing all-knowing, "Yeah, so the rest is up to you now."

"You have to do your best as well!" Mimi gave him a sweet smile and felt herself more confident than before.

Not far away, their friends watched as the Royal Couple were smiling an laughing together. "Those two look awfully happy."

"Yeah, they seem to be on good terms with each other." Sora replied, giving Taichi a soft smile.

'If it's like this, I have to put more effort into it!' Mimi smiled as she thought to herself, glancing every direction at all of the things the pool had. Her glances paused at the blonde-haired boy and she smiled, 'Yamato, thank you!'

The group paused. Taichi and Sora's eyes lit up. "It's the pool!"

(A/N: In Japan, the 'pool' is like a water amusement park. Especially in Odaiba, Tokyo, there wasn't enough room among all of the apartmentees to have their own personal pools, so water amusement parks were their pools.)

"Yeah, we can see it..." Yamato said bluntly, but he smiled at Sora's smiling face.

"Are you that happy?" Mimi asked blinking her eyes in wonder.

Miyako grabbed Ken's arm. "I'm happy!"

Sora crouched down to her knees and looked at her reflection over the side of the pool. "I haven't been here for over a year now!"

"Me too! Me too!" Taichi bounced in excitement and jumped over the edge, causing a large spray of water to deluge on his friends.

"Kya! This feel great!" Sora exclaimed after surfacing to the water. Taichi had pulled her in with her.

Taichi laughed as he splashed water around. "You can't even compare the school pool to this! This is so much better!"

At the edge of the pool, the group looked down at them with blank faces. Taichi and Sora blinked at one another in realization and grew silent. Yamato gave Mimi a poke in the arm and whispered loudly in her ear. "This isn't the time for you to stand around! Get over there!"

Hearing these words, Mimi's eyes burned with anger. "Yeah, like you didn't! What about you!"

"Hmph!" Mimi walked over to where Taichi was climbing up the ladder on the side of the pool. She held an inner tube in her hand and was motioning to give it to him. "Ta... Taichi-kun. Do you want to go to that pool over there?"

He gave her a smile. "Sure!"

They began walking over to the pool she pointed out, but Mimi was trailing slowly behind, lugging the inner tube with her. Taichi noticed a reasonable distance between them and gave a short laugh. "Mimi you're slow!"

"I'm sorry..!" she apologized as she continued trailing behind.

Taichi continued, "I wouldn't have come if you wanted to stay with Yamato the whole time."

With this, Mimi paused and blinked at him in bewilderment. "What do you mean?"

"It's amusing watching the two of you."

Mimi's eyebrow raised. "Amusing?"

"Are you and Yamato going out behind my back?"

"We're not!" Mimi shrieked at the impossibility.

Taichi narrowed his eyes and grinned. "Oh, really?..."

They made it to the pool and stood in the water next to each other. "Taichi-kun, did you have to attend summer classes because of low grades?"

"No, I didn't feel that well on the day of the exam so I had to stay home."

"Oh, so that's how it is..."

"Yeah."

'I have to say something! Say something! What should I say!' Mimi's face began to grow red as she panicked in the silence. "Ah... That... Um..."

Taichi blinked, unable to understand where she was going in the conversation. "Huh?"

'I don't know what to talk about!' Mimi bit her lip in despair. In her mental frenzy, she didn't realize an object making its way to her at fast speed and was snapped out of her contemplation when a beach ball hit her head. "Ouch!"

"Are you having fun?"

Mimi shook her head of the slight daze and realized that Yamato was standing a few feet in front of her with Sora smiling next to him. She let out of a sigh of relief and smiled, 'Yamato!..'

"Let's play ball together, the four of us!" Taichi exclaimed as the splashed his way through the water to get the ball.

Yamato furrowed his brow at the suggestion, "Wouldn't it be more fun to play inside?"

Mimi felt herself twitch and took Yamato to the side. "Hey, what's up with the 'more fun inside'? How are we supposed to keep playing when you say it like that?"

Yamato's stood a little dumbfounded, but his eyes grew narrow and he clenched his teeth in a snarl, "But I had no idea what to say!"

"Don't act all spontaneous!"

"What!" Yamato's face burned. As Mimi turned around to return to Taichi, Yamato took Mimi by surprise and took her underneath the water with him for a few seconds. When they surfaced, Mimi was coughing out water from the surprise.

"That hurt.." she glared at him miserably through her hair, stringy from the water.

Yamato smiled softly. "Okay! Let's have fun!"

Mimi blinked at him in surprise with his change of attitude and gave a weak smile as he turned to meet up with Sora once again. 'He's right!'

She began trailing behind him and just realized that some people were missing. "Oh yeah, where is Ken-kun and Miyako-chan?"

"The just left to ride that thing." Sora pointed behind her. "It looks like a water slide."

Yamato and Mimi stared blankly behind Sora. "Water... slide..." Ken and Miyako's screams could be heard as they rode in the water slide on their mini raft.

"That one was awesome!" Miyako squealed as she took a towel to dry her hair off. Ken was smiling happily at her side.

Taichi's face lit up. "Really?"

Sora turned. "Yamato, would you like to try it out?"

"Ehh.. I'll pass..." he looked at the water slide and shifted his glance to Miyako and Ken, noting their wet hair.

Sora frowned in dejection. "Oh? Really...?"

"What about Mimi-chan?" Taichi's voice chirped as he beamed with a wide smile, itching to ride the slide.

"I'm... also scared..." Mimi laughed weakly and hid behind the beach ball for protection.

"Oh..." Taichi frowned, but he quickly put on another smile as he put his hand out, waving the group good-bye. "Then I'll be away for a little while."

Sora waved as well. "We'll be right back!"

Yamato's expression stayed the same. "Sure."

"Oh... okay." Mimi returned their waves as their "dates" were running off together to play at the water slides.

Yamato's eyes glanced over to Mimi's, the expression on his face a shade darker than when he stared at the water slide in disbelief. Mimi perked at his glance and grew wide-eyed, finding his dark expression new to her and somewhat disturbing as if he had an intent for murder. "I didn't go to this pool to have a date with you."

Mimi's fear went away as she boiled in anger at his words. "What's that supposed to mean!"

"Exactly what it's supposed to, but I guess you're too light-headed to understand." he turned his back and began treading through to water to get back onto the walkway.

'So rude! I don't even know what I did to get him so mad! This pisses me off!' Mimi took the beach ball in her hands and threw it at him, striking him in the back.

The ball plopped onto the water as Yamato halted and slowly turned around. "Are you trying to pick a fight with me?.."

"Err.." Mimi bit her lip as she began to slowly take steps back.

Yamato took a few quick strides toward her. She began to run away from him, but he caught up and took a leap, dragging her into the water with him as she let out a squeal drowned out by the water.

'No! This is worse than earlier!' she panicked in her head as Yamato's weight seemed to pull her down. She only saw darkness as her eyes were tightly shut, and she lost her sense of direction with up and down.

A slight rush and she felt herself break the surface and a splash of water hit her hard. She coughed harder this time than earlier and opened her eyes, adjusting it to see Yamato with a smirk on his face. She whimpered, "You're so mean.."

"You're my competition, remember?" he scoffed and splashed more water her direction causing her to withdraw in protection. She glared at him when she regained her composure and returned him the challenge sending a splash his way, and they continued doing so until Sora returned.

"Sora, you're back!" Miyako waved to her. "Was it fun?"

"Yeah, it was totally awesome!" she smiled as she took a towel to dry off her hair. "What have you guys been up to?"

Miyako giggled at the question. She pointed to the pool in front of them. "Mmm.. watching Mimi and Yamato."

"They've been arguing the whole time, but it looks like they're enjoying themselves." Ken added.

"Hey, when did you two get this close, anyways? Did something happen?" Taichi's voice boomed through Mimi's and Yamato's fighting.

Yamato and Mimi paused at his words and they stared at each other in disbelief, realizing what they had been doing the whole time.

"It's all because of you!" Mimi snarled.

Yamato grew wide-eyed. "What!"

Mimi stormed back onto the walkway with Yamato following her to get back to the group. She tooked at Taichi. "Where did you go?"

"I got thirsty so I went to buy some juice. I bought some for you too." he smiled and offered his hand with the juice container.

Mimi blushed and gladly took the juice. "Taichi, sorry for the trouble!"

"Here. Is that one okay?" he asked her, unsure of what her favorite flavor was.

She smiled. "Yeah, thanks!"

* * *

The two of them sat to the side drinking their juice together while having a conversation. Mimi smiled cheerfully at Taichi as they talked and drank. 'Be myself! Be myself!'

"It was really fun back there!" Taichi laughed as he rubbed his nose with his finger.

Mimi turned her head to him in surprise. "It wasn't scary?"

"Not at all!"

"I see," she turned her attention to her juice bottle and watched it as she turned in between her hands. She took a breath in, "then, maybe I'll try it later!"

Taichi returned with a grin. "Yeah! Let's do it!"

'This feels totally right----!' Mimi smiled as she finally was moving somewhere in their "date." In front of her and Taichi, Yamato was sitting with Sora having a conversation of their own. 'Yamato looks like he's having a great time too!'

'Now that I think about it...' Mimi blinked. 'He actually managed to help Sora enjoy it here.'

Yamato and Sora began to laugh as Mimi continued to observe them. 'Yamato really is amazing..'

* * *

"Byebye!" Miyako waved cheerfully as she and Ken were walkind to the direction of their apartment.

"Sora-chan and Taichi-kun live in the same direction." Mimi stood waving good-bye with a hint of sadness in her voice as she watched them walk away together. "Will Sora-chan be okay?"

"Don't worry, Taichi isn't a bad person." Yamato replied. He turned around and began walking the opposite direction. He looked back and Mimi with a smile on his face. "Also.. Sora-chan and I are doing great."

Mimi smiled, recalling the two of them while she was drinking juice with Taichi. "That's right! The atmosphere when you're together seems to be really good!"

"Hehe," Yamato turned and continued to walk again. "Mimi, you're not doing to bad yourself."

Mimi took a few seconds to reply, finding Yamato's compliment new to her. She felt a warm sensation go through her body and her voice responded happily. "Thanks! It's all thanks to you."

"Alright! Let's do our best tomorrow too." Yamato waved back to her while he continued on walking.

Mimi agreed and ran to catch up to him. They walked to rest of the way back to their apartments together. 'This is great! If Yamato and I can keep things up like this, then I'm sure it will turn out just fine!'

'I hope we'll be able to find our happiness together!'


	3. Step 03

**Lovely Complex**  
by deina-kun

Disclaimer: Characters are the creation of Akiyoshi Hongo. The fanfiction is an based on Nakahara Aya's Lovely Complex.

A/N: Sorry about the typos last chapter!

* * *

**Step 03.**

"Taichi-kun really isn't that bad of a guy, isn't he?"

Mimi blinked as she came out of her daydream and rested her eyes on the orange haired tennis ace. She abruptly lifted her head up from the desk and jumped in her seat, making it fall to the ground. She pointed her finger at Sora as she used the other hand to cover her mouth as a reaction from the shocking realization. "Eeehh? Don't tell me, you like him..."

"No, that's not it!" Sora's face blushed red as she waved her hands in front of her, assuring that Mimi was mistaken. "That's not what I meant!"

"Oh, you mean you get along?" Miyako chirped in, smiling at both Mimi and Sora.

"Yeah." Sora had regained her composure. "And he walked me home last night."

She brought her hand up to her chin and contemplated. "I was always afraid of him since what he did back then in elementary school. But he's actually very gentle, and not as scary as I thought he used to be. I don't seem to be scared of him."

'Actually.. I'm scared of him... for what happened back then...' Sora eyes trailed to the floor as she tried not to recall any of those past memories.

"Re...really... Well, that's good..." The hand that Mimi had been twirling her hair around it stopped as she turned her gaze away from Sora. 'This is bad..."

'If this keeps up, Sora-chan may end up as my rival in love... and I may end up losing...' Mimi took herself away from the panic and pointed up her index finger to indicate one incident that deserved credit. "But, didn't you have a great time with Yamato yesterday too? Yeah! That's right! What about Yamato?"

"Yes! It was easy to talk to Ishida-san, too!" Sora responded with her usual sweet smile. "But that's because he and I are so alike. So I really don't see him as a guy after all. And he's got the whole princely thing going on.. Isn't that kind of self-centered?"

Mimi dropped her jaw. 'Yamato... he's sunk to the bottom...'

'If Yamato happened to hear this...' she turned her head and froze. "Wah!"

Yamato's eyes were devoid of emotion and a dark expression loomed across his face as his mouth twitched open. "Good morning..."

"Ya.. Yamato..." Mimi stammered slowly in shock with the worst case scenario happening.

Miyako chirped in excitement. "Good morning!"

Sora smiled, "Good morning, Ishida-san!"

Yamato forced a smile. "Good morning, Takenouchi-san. It was fun yesterday."

"Hehehe," Miyako couldn't help herself, "Ishida-san, you're a very amusing person!"

Yamato's eyes narrowed, but he didn't bother glancing at her and risking making the junior high student crying at the result of his misery. Mimi began to reach out to him with a skeptical look. "Yamato..."

"Is this your form of sympathy?" he snapped coldly, making Mimi agitated, "Go ahead, make fun of me like you've always wanted to, _hime_-sama."

(A/N: Princess and Prince will now be written in their Japanese translations, _hime_-sama and _ouji_-sama, respectively.)

Mimi glared at him. "Get a hold of yourself!"

He dropped her head so that his hair would cover his eyes from her view. "Hey, _kouhai_. Tell the teacher that _ouji_-sama will be absent today." he slapped her hand away and walked out of the classroom, opening the sliding door open in a frightening way.

Mimi ground her palms into the desk before her. "_Ouji_-sama!"

She groaned and made her way to the door, "I'll go after him."

'_Ouji_-sama... No! It's Yamato! Yamato! Hold on!' Mimi finally saw his figure as she turned around the corner and she subconsciously called out, "Ouji-sama!"

He stopped as her hand grabbed onto his upper arm. "You just called me _ouji_-sama..."

'What now?' Mimi stared blankly at what she had done. 'What should I say?'

"Er... I..." she stammered, shifting her glance toward anything as as she looked for words.

"What? Are you going to console me now?" Yamato asked with a biting aggravation in his voice.

Mimi froze at his rudeness and felt her cheeks boiling. "What's with you! I was worried about you! What is wrong with you!"

"So what!" Yamato shot her a glare.

"So what if people label you as ouji-sama and think that you're selfish and self-centered because they label you that! Be a man, would you!"

"It's because of everyone's stupid idea of me as a prince that they don't see me as a man let alone see me for who I am!" Yamato retorted. The color from his face flushed out of it after he finished yelling, taking breaths in between.

Mimi stared at him in shock after hearing his response. She wanted to find something to throw at him or hit him with, but the only thing she found in her purse was a water bottle that Miyako had placed in there since she had extra. Mimi took it and dumped the water onto Yamato's hair, matting it all over his face and drenching his white uniform shirt through. "It doesn't matter if they call you ouji-sama or if people think that you're narcissitic or whatever! You're a man as long as you have a -beep-!" (you get the idea )

"Cheh." Yamato turned away with defeat in his eyes. He was still disoriented from her actions. "Girls should use such indecent words."

"Just shut up, will you!" Mimi fumed, "People have always thought of you as a Prince our of jealousy and admiration! What's so embarrassing about being called self-centered by a single girl!"

"If you're going to be bothered by such trivial matters, then you don't even have the right to like anyone!" Mimi paused to take a few breaths and threw the water bottle onto the floor, missing him. "Loser!"

She turned around and began stomping angrily back to the classroom. "Argh, geez! I'm so mad! This is so aggravating!"

Yamato ran his fingers down a long, wet strand of hair before his eyes, still somewhat disoriented from their recent argument. "It seems that idiot's attack turns out to be quite effective..."

"Heh."

'He said we would do our best! That jerk is such a pain! And here I thought he wasn't such a bad person after all... That's it! I'll work harder even if I have to do it alone!' Mimi bumped into something while she was deep in her thoughts. After she managed through her daze, she look up in apology. "Ah? Sorry."

"Eh? Taichi-kun!"

He lifted his hand to give her a quick wave. "'morning!"

Mimi lifted an eyebrow. "Good morning... but... I guess class has already started..."

"Yeah," Taichi scratched the back of his head with his hand, "I'm a little late because of practice."

"You were late the first day too, weren't you?" Mimi asked him with a slight blush on her cheek.

"It's hard to get here on time with soccer practice running late." he replied, shifting his attention around to the unused classrooms and their closed doors. "It's hard to wake up early during the summer too."

"Yeah."

Taichi continued. "It's hard getting up during winter too."

"Oh, I see..." Mimi raised her eyebrow even higher and began looking to see if the teacher was coming out to look for her.

"Are you late too, Tachikawa-san?"

Mimi paused and giggled nervously, "Well, I had something to take care of..."

"Oh yeah," Taichi cut her off and rubbed his chin with his hand as he was trying to think of what to say, "Thanks for inviting me yesterday, it was fun."

"Oh! Don't be so formal!" Mimi blushed and waved her hand in front of her showing that it was no problem.

"Um, hey Mimi, can I ask you something?"

"What?"

Taichi brought his hand to his neck and turned his gaze away from her, "Do you think I'm scary?"

"Huh?..." Mimi stared blankly at him.

"Because yesterday, it looked like Sora-chan was scared." he rubbed his neck in confusion.

* * *

_Taichi-kun is a pretty nice guy._

* * *

'Now that I think about it...' Mimi began knotting a strand of her hair around her finger, "Ah... She's always been a bit scared of boys, I don't think it's your fault."

"Mm."

'It seems like... Sora-chan isn't aware of it herself, but she might've started to like Taichi-kun... What now? What if he! What if he is taken away from me by Sora-chan? What should I do then?'

Taichi shifted his view to the ceiling. "I also have problems talking to girls."

Mimi perked at the strange confession. "Eh? Really?"

"Yeah." he dropped his hand and looked seriously into her eyes. "But... It's different with you... it's easy to talk to you."

"Eh..." Mimi felt her heartbeat give a loud thump, 'What if he likes me!'

"It might be because you're my kouhai that I don't really see you as a girl." he laughed at the thought and patted her on the head.

"Oohh... so that's how it is..." Mimi felt tears coming out of the corners of her eyes. 'Somehow, it feels like I've heard those words somewhere before...'

'How could I even think about it! I'm such an idiot!'

Taichi continued, "Oh yeah, I don't really dislike Sora-san either."

"Err... huh?" Mimi felt as if she had been defeated as she looked at Taichi's reddening face with wide eyes. 'Huh?'

'Huh!'

'**HUH!**' Mimi cried out without checking her actions. "It couldn't be that... You like Sora-chan?"

"No!" Taichi put his opened hand out in front of him like a stop sign. "What are you saying?"

"But your face is..." Mimi pointed out his deeply red face.

Taichi shook his hand frantically. "No! You're wrong, it's because it's hot in here."

"That... I... I'm going ahead." he turned around and began walking away, but turned around after he took a few steps. "You're wrong!"

'Geeeh... What's this...?' Mimi collapsed to the floor, despairing in her defeat. 'He definitely likes her! Obviously!'

"Hey! _Hime_-sama!"

Mimi turned toward the voice with tears dotting the corners of her eyes. "Yamato..."

"What happened to the all fired up Mimi all of a sudden? Lost your composure as a Princess?" he stopped, towering in front of her and looked down at her with a smug look as she knelt on the floor, trying to hold back the tears.

She turned away from him. "Sorry, I made a fool out of myself earlier."

"What's that supposed to mean!"

Mimi sighed and stared listlessly at the floor with the most dejected tone Yamato had ever heard, "It didn't work out after all. Usually I wouldn't put it into mind, but being told that by someone you like really hurts..."

'Yamato-kun does like cute girls after all... with me being the underclassman that I am, it's not surprising that he doesn't see me as a girl... I'm just a rival to him in this silly popularity race.. a girl like me...' Mimi's thoughts stopped cold as a trickle of water ran down her head and her neck, seeping into her school uniform.

"Idiot." he dropped something on to her head and a water bottle bounced and rolled to the side.

"That hurts!" Mimi cried as she tended to the spot where he dropped the bottle on her head. "What the hell are you doing! My hair..!"

"Are you just going to stay like this so that people won't be able to tell the water apart from your tears?" he asked looking down at her. She didn't look up. In her mind, she was flashing back to when she was young and crying out in the elementary school's playground...

* * *

"Wahhh...!"

"Mimi-chan.." a young boy stopped in front of her and gave her a light knock on the head. "You don't look good with a crying face."

"But.." she sniffed and gave a short cough, rubbing her eyes of her tears.

"It's ugly." he said, looking sternly at her, but gave her a smile afterward, "You look prettier with a smiling face."

She grew wide-eyed at what he said and quickly dried her tears away. "Then.. **I promise never to cry again!**"

* * *

"He he he.. That was payback for earlier!" he pointed to his still wet hair. After Mimi had calmed down a little bit, still somewhat devastated over her wet hair, Yamato clenched his fist and drew out it in front of him. "I'm not going to give up Sora-san! I'll try even harder tomorrow!"

Mimi stood up and wringed her hair of some excess water. "Yamato.."

"I'm not wrong at all." he scoffed, "'If you're going to let yourself be bothered by such trivial matters, they you don't even have the right to like anybody.'"

He drew his hand to cover his face in mock sadness, "Those were my grandfather's last words when he passed away..."

Mimi fumed at his lies and tried to get her rightful credit out of him, "You liar! I just said that!"

"So you remember your own words now?" he grinned playfully at her snarling.

"I'm glad you're here with me." Mimi paused and blinked at him, taken by surprise with his change of attitude. A wide smile spread across his face as he stood in front of his with his hands in his pant pockets as he continued, "If I were all on my own I would probably have given up long ago while hating myself."

'Yamato...' Mimi felt herself tear up and at this, Yamato turned return back to the classroom, waving good-bye with his back turned to her as he walked away.

'Even though we keep upsetting each other... but still I can understand him better than anyone else... Our worries are the complete opposites to on another's. However, we both have a serious complex about our social status in high school... So when I hear Yamato say that he'll do his best... I can't help but feel that I need to do my best as well...' she took a deep breath and called out to him, "Alright then! I'll do my best too!"

Yamato turned around to her beaming face.

'He also put some sense into me with that water of his...' she ran to catch up to him and walked by his side. Yamato whispered to her proposing that the both do their best and gave her a pat on her head.

She smiled. 'If I were to give up, then I would probably never rid myself of the complex being a kouhai has brought upon me.'

The slid the door open and walked in together, "Sorry we're late!"

The teacher dropped the chalk in his hand as he turned to see his late students with surprise in his face, "Why are you this late?"

"We were discussing what to do in our next act!" Yamato joked while Mimi stared blankly at the lie.

The teacher gave out a sigh and took the chalk from the floor, "Alright then, be seated!"

While Mimi was walking to her desk she saw Taichi's face looking up at her in the seat behind her desk. Silence lasted for a brief 3 seconds while they had a stare down. She took her seat and correctly anticipated that Taichi was going to talk about what happened earlier. His face was red, "You're wrong. It's not like that!"

"I know, I know."

To her right, a girl sitting behind Yamato poked him, "Yamato-kun, why is your hair all soaked?"

He laughed and replied back, "You could say it's a new way of cheering people on."

"Huh?"

As he laughed at the girl's confusion, he was beginning to turn his head back to the front of the class, but paused when he noticed that Mimi had been watching him. She perked and her eyes began to grow wide in embarrassment.

Noticing her reaction, he returned her gaze with a wide grin.

* * *

_Will the cooperation between this unusual duo work out?  
The future lies ahead of them._

* * *

**A/N:** Give me your thoughts on who the boy in Mimi's flashback to her childhood should be! Stay tuned for the next arc. :) 


	4. Step 04

**Lovely Complex**  
by deina-kun

Disclaimer: Characters are the creation of Akiyoshi Hongo. The fanfiction is an based on Nakahara Aya's Lovely Complex.

A/N: Sorry about typos and lack of description. I've been rushing Updates for you guys. I'll try to improve the writing quality as I continue this fic.

RE: **Nobody's Flicker** ... I might try to put some of Yamato's thoughts in, but I'm not into 3rd person omniscient unlimited stories (where everyone's thoughts are known). We'll see.. :) For now it'll be 3rd person omniscient limited w/ Mimi's POV. And it's fun keeping Yamato's thoughts secret from the readers because it's not as obvious to tell who he likes (or not) and what he's thinking.

This chapter includes actual locations in Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan.

* * *

_In fact, I don't really understand Yamato at all!_

* * *

**Step 04.**

'Forget it! It's nothing that I should be worried about.'

"Tomorrow?" Taichi nodded with a growing excitement in his eyes. He noticed that Mimi was smiling rather uncomfortably and returned a wide smile, hoping to calm her down a bit. "Sure!"

She blinked and the discomfort in her actions changed to cheerfulness as she chirped on about the plans, "That's great! Yamato is coming too! And..." she took in a quick gasp of breath and watched her love interest closely, "Sora is also coming!"

Taichi felt himself stiffen as Mimi announced her final sentence. His face flared red as he averted his eyes from her, "Oh! Eh---"

Mimi smiled weakly and raised an eyebrow as she noticed the obvious blush coming across Taichi's face, 'What's with the "Ehh"?'

'Right now...' Mimi became uncomfortable around Taichi again as he withdrew from the conversation and tried to focus on the workbook the teacher had given them before their study hall. She turned to scan the room at the social activities going on and her eyes located a couple giggling and whispering in the corner of the room, talking about the summer festival, 'I wonder how it's going with Sora over there?' she blinked. Yamato's cheerful and cool grin attracted her attention, 'Yamato is trying hard, too'

* * *

"_Okaasan_? Is my kimono on right? I feel a little uncomfortable.." Mimi shuffled around barefoot with the kimono on. Her mom was making final adjustments to the sash around Mimi's waist, trying to make it as even and large to accentuate her daughter's features.

"There!" her mom gave the bow a light tap in victory as she giggled at her work. Mimi went to look in the mirror and smiled with satisfaction as the dark blue kimono with the light pink sakura flower print complimented the light pink sash around her waist. She finished with adding an ornamented hair pin through her seemingly glowing blonde hair tied in a neat updo and let the jewels dangle freely from the pin. 'Hmm. I actually wanted to show more of my feminine side by wearing a kimono.However, I wasn't sure if it would be very suitable for this kind of event.'

* * *

Mimi paused at a somewhat crowded area at the entrance of the Yurikamome Shiodome Station. People were flooding in and out of the subway with many girls returning from their shopping trips in Shibuya and Harajuku with shopping bags hanging from their arms (or their boyfriends' arms). Alternatively, people from out of town were rushing from the Venus Fort shopping mall to take the Yurikamome home.

After sighing over passing up the thought of shopping, Mimi felt the change in the atmosphere as she felt some anxiety of the things that she was expecting to happen that night set butterflies fluttering in excitement. She gripped the silk drawstring purse in her hand and waited for a crowd to pass by, but she paused to see a figure before her catch her eyes. Crouching down with his back against the pillar in the spot where she was supposed meet the others was a boy with his downcast blonde-haired head following the lines of the tiles on the floor to pass time. Mimi couldn't see his eyes underneath the white visor he wore, but her lips trembled a guess, "Yamato!"

The blonde-haired boy's head snapped up at the sound of his name. His eyes widened at the person who was slowly approaching him and his cheeks started to peek a hint of color at the sight before him.

"Sora and them haven't arrived yet?" Mimi looked down at him with the usual unknowing in her face and her eyes danced with questioning as she kept her gaze on him.

Yamato shrugged, "You gave me a fright.. I was wondering who it was..."

"Huh?" Mimi looked at him even more confused than when she came. After a few seconds, her face grew a shade darker and she drew the purse closer to her chest as she brought her clutched right hand up to her face in despair, "Do I look that weird in this?"

"No..." Yamato blinked and kept his eyes on her, wondering what brought about the quick change in attitude, but Mimi didn't seem to have heard his response.

"This is bad! I know some things are just not meant to be!"

He raised an eyebrow and looked at her with a straight face as he lost focus on the conversation, "What are you talking about?"

"Enough! I knew it!" she threw her opened palm out in front of him like a traffic officer would, but in a more dramatic way, "Stop consoling me!"

She dropped her hand and turned to the side. "This is no good... I feel like going home..."

His eyes hadn't detached themselves from her comic display of despairing and he looked at her with a light smile, trying to keep himself from laughing, but he couldn't resist and let out a long sigh with a slight chuckle in the the end. Mimi looked at him with her eyes burning at the boy whom she was looking down at, "What are you laughing at!"

Yamato rubbed the back of his hand across him mouth as he smiled. He stuck out his tongue at her with one eye closed in a playful manner after his hand passed, "Nothing. I was just---"

"Sorry! We're late!"

At those words, Mimi paused. She had begun to lower her head closer to Yamato's to add a few more bits of verbal criticism toward him, but paused and turned her head (as well as Yamato) to find Sora and Taichi stiffening in surprise in their light summer clothes as they noticed the close distance between Yamato and Mimi's faces. "We... met on our way here..."

After finishing with the greetings, Yamato finally got to his feet and the four of them walked to the Odaiba Seaside Park (Odaiba Kaihin Koen). It was becoming dark and the city lights were coming on as they were making their way to the park. The tents and booths could be seen in the distance from where they were and the lights were already on, dancing in a festive array of different shades of red, gold, and yellow.

"Ahh! Sorry!" Sora apologized after bumping into a person as they walked. Taichi noticed this and pointed over to his right, "You... walk on this side."

"Huh?" Sora looked up at him, unsure of what he meant by the gesture, but in a quick motion, he took a few steps and found himself walking alongside her to her left.

"In order to protect her from bumping into others, he let himself become her shield by walking on the side where it's more crowded!" Mimi gasped at the sight and applauded Taichi for the gentlemanly action.

"I don't get it! I wonder what he's up to." Yamato crossed his arms and forrowed his brow in confusion, wondering what Taichi was intending with that action toward Yamato's intended future girlfriend.

Mimi glanced at Yamato and agreed with him after noticing the disapproving and perplexed expression on his face, "What should we do?"

He looked at her with confusion in his eyes and replied flatly, "Do what?"

"The atmosphere between them is getting good.." she began.

He continued. "..just like that of a couple who's just started going out."

Their eyes grew wide at the realization and they both exclaimed at the same time. "You're right!"

'...I still can't do it!' the excitement from Mimi's face quickly went away as she stared on at the couple walking in front of them with sadness and defeat in her eyes. A frown spread across her face, 'Looking at them both.. there is no way that I will be able to interfece.'

'It is useless no matter how hard I try!' she bit her let and stopped walking. "Yamato!"

"Huh?" Yamato stopped and turned his head to hear, looking at her from underneath his visor.

She played with the string on her purse between her fingers for a few moments to organize the words in her head and took a breath in, "I've decided to stop liking Taichi-kun! I give up!"

Yamato looked at her in confusion as his eyes grew wide in surprise, "What?"

Mimi continued and turned around to hide her pathetic expression from him, "Because no matter what I do, it will be useless!"

"But..."

She turned around and tried her best to force a smile, but Yamato could tell that she wasn't really all that cheery no matter how convincing her picturesque face seemed. She let out a soft sigh, "It's not easy to make them respond to each other's feelings. I don't wish to interfere!"

"Mimi..." his eyes grew wide as he stared at her with mixed emotions crossing between awe, confusion, and wonder.

'This is enough! It's time for me to give up my feelings for him! Forget it! It's not like I had that much hope in the beginning!' her forced smile reverted back to her true emotions as a saddened frown spread across her face and her eyebrows drooped sadly in defeat. She lowered her head.

Yamato stuffed his hands into the pockets of his shorts as he looked up to the dusk sky. "Let me tell you!"

The enthusiastic sarcasm in his voice brought Mimi to look at him with wide-eyed questioning in her eyes as he continued, "That Sora! Whenever she's talking to me, she will always glancing at the direction where Taichi is!"

"...Really?" Mimi stared blankly at him, unsure of whether to believe what he said.

Yamato pulled his arms behind his head and stretched back a little, "Yep! It's really rude of her you know!"

'Eh...'

"Mimi!"

She snapped out of her mental evaluation of him. "What?"

"If this goes on, they will probably end up seriously dating each other, right?"

Mimi blinked at the thought. "...probably..."

Yamato's eyes grew distant. "I don't want to interfere with them too."

"Really?"

"Yep, why not be the one to bring them together instead! It's easier that way!" Yamato laughed at the brilliant thought and prepared for Mimi's enthusiastic agreement of the plan.

Much to his surprise, she didn't. "Are you trying to 'drown' yourself in sorrow?" she looked at him with a worried expression.

"Even if we are the Odaiba Academy _Kouhai _in this comedian love act, you have to know when to stop." he looked at her with a nervous lift at the corner of his lip after her strange response, but he put on a mock television announcer's voice instead, "That's all for today! Thank you everyone!"

Mimi giggled at his humor and turned to him with a lifted eyebrow as she kept her wide grin, "But no.. Even if you have to know when to stop, you also have to do something that's beyond your limits!"

At her words, Yamato's bewildered smile went away and he looked at her with a calm warmness in his eyes as a soft smile spread across his face. She blinked at the change of mood between them and her light-hearted giggling changed to a quieted and confused face. Her cheeks blushed lightly.

Yamato smiled and ran his hand through his hair. "Okay! Let's not care about both of them today, let's go and have some fun!"

At the cheeriness in his voice, Mimi smiled, "Okay!"

'...Yamato! Thank you'

* * *

"...Huh?" Deep into the crowd at the festival, Sora pulled herself away from gazing in awe at the various festival lanterns and realized that her best friend was no longer following behind, "Where's Mimi...? Where's Yamato..?"

* * *

'Being with Yamato.. is really good! It would have been far more depressing if I was all alone.' Mimi and Yamato had been sight-seeing all of the attractions at the festival and finally stopped at the same time in the most congested area where the attractions, the people, and the wafting smell of food were at its best. She giggled at the scene as she watched with sparkling eyes, "Wow! There are lots of stalls here!"

Yamato inched himself toward one of the stalls, trying to hold back his childhood temptations. "I want to try catching some goldfish!"

"I want to go too!" Mimi exclaimed as she followed as fast as she could in the slippers she wore.

They each took a goldfish scoop with the thin film of paper at the hoop that tears after it's been in the water for too long. Mimi took a try at catching a goldfish but tore the paper as the goldfish flopped hysterically on top of it while she scooped it out. She peered jokingly at Yamato through the hoop with some shreds of the wet torn sheets of paper still intact and laughed as Yamato looked disappointedly at her in embarrassment.

They moved to a stall that had toy guns where they were supposed to shoot at soda cans, but Mimi played around with pointing the gun at Yamato's head, laughing hysterically as he flinched in fright, thinking that she'd pull the trigger on him. The expression on his face was priceless and she couldn't keep herself from laughing even more.

* * *

_Even though I've just fallen out of love, I'm still happy._

_That's because Yamato is with me. _

* * *

"It's fun!" Mimi exclaimed happily as she dangled a plastic container in her hand with the goldfish Yamato had won and given to her. "I wonder if Sora and Taichi-kun went back already?"

"I think so..." Yamato scratched the back of his head with his hand. "Apart from elementary kids, I think we are the only ones who are staying up to play until such late hours."

The two of them laughed at the truth in the thought as they walked through the still busy crowds. Yamato rubbed his nose with his finger, trying to hide his smile as he cleared his throat, "What did we come here to do anyway?"

Mimi couldn't find an answer to his question and continued to laugh at his previous thought. "Uhmm.. Yeah!"

After they calmed down and stopped laughing, Yamato glanced to his right at his _kouhai _and smiled warmly at her. The cold air seemed to put a light tint upon his cheeks. Feeling a slight tug from his stare, Mimi instinctively glanced over to her left and found his eyes gazing at her. She looked up at him with a sweet smile still lingering on her face even after all of the laughter. 'Frankly speaking... What did we come here to do?'

Her eyes stopped dead on a stall that had a tiny live turtles up for the prize and pointed in surprise at the direction of the stall. "Ah! Yamato! Let's go play that.."

"Uhh... Yamato..?" Mimi looked around and noticed that the tall blonde-haired boy was no longer walking by her side and she stared forward, calling out his name. "YAMATO!"

"I'm over here!" he looked at her with disgust as he emerged from a crowd behind her.

"Arrgh! You gave me a fright! You're so tall that you walk so fast I even lost sight of you in an instant!" she chattered on, expressing her relief with his presence with her once again.

"Are you trying to pick a fight?" he looked at her with a straight face but his expression showed a hint of frustration, "Besides.. I was behind you. How could you blame my height when you were the one that ran off ahead?"

Mimi pulled a hand to her mouth to cover it after realizing her error. "Ah! I'm sorry!"

Yamato had a hand resting on the side of his waist as he stared at her with a raised eyebrow, questioning her mental state. He sighed and took her right hand with his left, adjusting his visor with his free hand, "...There seems to be too many people! I'm feeling weird."

"Let's go and have some barbecued squid!" he pulled her along with him and she followed as he held her hand. She blushed as she realized the position they were in and her eyes trailed down to her hand in his.

"Yamato's really warm..." she whispered subconsciously.

He turned around and glared at her, assuming that she had tried to state an insult at him, "What? Are you talking crap again?"

"Nothing..." she continued following him and noticed his grip on her hand grow tighter as they walked through the crowds. She glanced at their entwined hands once again, unsure of the feeling she felt inside of her and her thoughts on the situations, 'Even though it's so cold out here.. his hand is warm.. His hand is like a man's hand.. it's all bony, though...'

'If I say this out loud, he will probably beat me up!' she continued walking with him, feeling her hand burn from his warmth and she twitched in slight discomfort over her growing thoughts. The sound of her sandles clacking on the stone walkway seemed to resound loudly as they walked, 'I musn't say it...'

Yamato felt Mimi's hand move under his and he turned around to look at her as they continued to walk. While she looked at him with the color of her face flushing out from the cold air other than a light tint on her cheeks, his expression on his face was undescribable. His eyes were a darker blue than the color of the blue on her kimono and seemed deeper and more unfathomable than ever before. She felt a pang in her heart as she saw the somewhat hurt and confused and regretful look in his eyes, 'I somehow get the feeling that...'

* * *

_The only one who feels weird is me._

* * *

As they continued walking, a few kids around their age were whispering and giggling.

"Are they dating?"

"I think so. They're holding hands!"

"That boy looks so cute!"

Yamato and Mimi turned to see that those kids were probably from their school. She felt her hand drop and the warmth taken away as Yamato let go of his hold. She stared at him with a straight face as confusion and hurt loomed in her eyes.

"..." Yamato glanced around the festival to keep from looking directly at her, "They're laughing because you're attracting attention with your kimono."

"I think it's because you're too tall!" Mimi retorted. A silence lingered between the two and Yamato dropped his head to hide the dark look on his face. Mimi cast her eyes downward after realizing what she had said and drew her clenched hand up to cover her mouth, 'Ah...'

"Hey!" Mimi blinked and drew her attention to the voice as Yamato called out spontaneously after he turned around and began to walk away, "Don't you.. want to eat barbecued squid? It tastes better if you add an egg on it! Do you want to try?"

Mimi looked over to his tall frame with his back facing her and hesitated, her voice trembling in response, "I ate at home before I came here."

'Why... do I feel this weird...?'

"What did you eat at home?" he asked.

"BBQ House's Korean Specialty..."

"What Specialty? Didn't you see that ad on TV?"

"That one... It's that one...!"

"Is it nice?"

"Yeah..."

"...Ohhhh..."

"...Going back?" Mimi asked after a long silence between them.

"Yeah..."

* * *

_It seems as though... nothing is right anymore._

* * *

"Mimi! I'm sorry!"

"Huh?" Mimi scratched the back of her head as Sora bowed low before her in apology, but Mimi replied in reassurance after realizing what her friend was apologizing for, "No, we're the ones who ought to be sorry, disappearing all by ourselves halfway through the outing..."

"No! That's not it!" Sora shook her head and looked at Mimi with a miserable expression of regret written all over her face, "Taichi-kun and I must have been an eyesore, right?"

Mimi's eyes grew wide at the strange response. "Huh...?"

"I know that you like Yamato-kun but I didn't notice it beforehand, I'm so sorry!" Sora continued, despairing over her friend.

'What?' Mimi narrowed her eyes at the unexpected words that were coming at her.

"Next time I won't follow the two of you!" Sora proclaimed, tugging nervously at the ribbon of her school uniform, "You and Yamato-kun have a good time together on your own okay! There!"

'What is she talking about?' after Sora's constant apologies and proposal, Mimi laughed weakly in response, "Uhmm.. Sora, I think you've got it wrong somehow... It's definitely not what you think!'

Sora looking down at the floor. "Taichi-kun already told me everything! Actually, Yamato-kun likes you the most, Mimi"

* * *

"What?" Yamato asked as he sat up from laying down at the bottom of the steps in the hallway. "I like you?"

"Why did it turn out this way?" he turned his head to look at the wall, avoiding her stares.

"I don't know either! What's more, she told me to keep on trying!"

"Trying what?" he turned his head to her with a look of disgust tracing the corner of his lips as he wondered what the outcome of the conversation would lead to.

Mimi turned her head away from him in embarrassment, not wanting to make contact with the attracting gaze of his eyes, "How would I know?"

His face became blank as he continued to fix his eyes on her averted gaze. "..Let me just say this first, I will never **ever **like a junior like you!"

Mimi turned her head, after he finished his remark, to face him. His face screamed anger all over it and disgust spread across her face as a look of utmost resentment remained stubborn in his eyes. "What..."

Yamato stood up and began walking up the stairs. "Never ever! That idea is crazy! Impossible!"

'I knew it...' she stood there in surprise as he continued to walk up the stairs. "...I..."

She took in a deep breath and shouted at the top of her lungs, "I will also never like a jerk like you!"

* * *

_I just knew that he would say that!_

* * *

**A/N: **How was it?

Although I don't like to ask for reviews (the review beggers "Please review or I won't update!"), I really, deeply **thank you** for those who have reviewed and followed the story. Your reviews and suggestions keep me motivated to continue, especially with these quick updates recently! Stay tuned!


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